Operation Jasper
by DivergentDemigod42
Summary: "It's a lot harder than you think, you know. Setting up a goody-two-shoes and a juvenile delinquent." Because even if Annabeth Chase's senior year is hard enough already, she's still going to try her hardest to set up Jason Grace and Piper McLean.
1. Chapter 1

**AHHHHHH YOU GUYS I'M SORRY I'M OBSESSED WITH JASPER HIGH SCHOOL AU'S DON'T ASK WHY I HAVE PROBLEMS**

**... hi guys. It's me. (No, it's Bob, her fire-breathing, rainbow-vomiting pet unicorn.)**

**So, yes, I do really love Jasper high school AU's. Maybe it's just the fact that I feel like there's a lack of Jasper-centric high school stories ... it's mostly Percabeth this, Percabeth that, Percabeth oh-my-freaking-gods. Don't get me wrong; I love Percabeth to death. It's the _it couple_ of the whole book series. But ... I dunno, I just don't really like reading Percabeth fanfictions. (I usually read fanfictions that include Piper. Okay, they always include Piper.) I really love high school AU's, but most of them are centered around Percabeth. Which I'm not particularly content with.**

**Yeah, this is a Jasper-centric high school AU. Quite possibly cliche. (Reyna and Jason rule student government, stuff like that.)**

**I am in _MIDDLE SCHOOL_. I know nothing about high school, so if I get something wrong then DO NOT JUDGE ME. Or tell me what it's supposed to be. Whatever.**

**There is some Percabeth, seeing as Annabeth is one of the main characters. (Annabeth plays major matchmaker here, she may be OOC.) There will be three different POV's: Annabeth, Jason, Piper. In that order. (And for some reason, I can completely imagine Annabeth with glasses.)**

**I hereby present _Operation Jasper._**

* * *

><p>Contrary to popular belief, Annabeth Chase hated school.<p>

It wasn't really the whole learning part. She loved learning, she really did. She was incredibly smart, a straight-A student, always favored by teachers. It was mostly the students there. Honestly, she thought they were complete idiots. They were rude, and they completely lacked common sense. With projects came partners, and with "partners" came a boatload of work for Annabeth. She wasn't even sure if her weekends classified as weekends anymore.

There were some rather likable students, though. There was her boyfriend, Percy Jackson, with the messiest black hair and the most gorgeous green eyes. A bit of an idiot, though he could prove to be intelligent at times. The two met during a science project in their sophomore year, and unlike her other project partners, he'd actually tried to help her.

Key word: _tried_.

They both ended up with a C, but Annabeth was actually okay with it. Because he _tried_, and when he tried, he was adorable. The two hit it off, and they were still dating through their senior year.

Then, there was Jason Grace and his girlfriend, Reyna Ramirez. (Her full name was Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, but you called her that and you were dead.) They were Annabeth's best friends, and they also ruled student government. There was also Frank Zhang (he was as cuddly as a teddy bear), Hazel Levesque (she was an absolute sweetheart, Frank's girlfriend too), and Leo Valdez (he flirted too much and always looked like he drank 600 too many coffees). Occasionally, a few others hung around. Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Katie Gardner, Nico di Angelo, Travis and Connor Stoll. They were pretty cool.

Majority of the students really were idiots, though. Like Drew Tanaka, who wore roughly ten pounds of makeup, and Dylan Ventum, who was cockier than was healthy for him. They led that stereotypical popular clique, the one full of complete ditzes, the most idiotic students in the entire school.

And, not to mention, she was also in student government with Jason and Reyna, and they had already started planning a huge Halloween party. Annabeth was in charge of decoration and the costume contest.

Five weeks into her senior year and she was already tired of it.

Needless to say that when unnaturally loud Panic! at the Disco music woke her up at 4:00 in the morning, she was pretty pissed off.

She groaned and took her phone, turning off her alarm, greatly contemplating on whether or not she should change her alarm to something less jarring. Normally, she wouldn't have woken up that early. 5:00, usually. Reyna had emailed everyone in student government late last night about some early meeting at 6:00, and Annabeth's stepmother had also asked her to do some grocery shopping before school. She also still had some leftover homework, the last three paragraphs of an essay on the Renaissance, and she had to pack lunch for her stepbrothers, Matthew and Bobby. She also had to look over her notes for the Halloween party before the meeting.

It was all a hassle, really. _Life _was a hassle.

She chugged down a glass of orange juice and nibbled on some toast, turning on her laptop. She opened up her essay and read over it, pulling her blonde curls into a messy bun. She had changed into a Goode hoodie and gray sweatpants, tucking the bottoms into her Ugg boots. Her glasses (Percy called them _nerd _glasses) were pushed onto her face. It was slightly more presentable than her baggy Hello Kitty pajamas._  
><em>

She ended up getting stuck on the concluding paragraph, so she opened up her decoration notes and looked over them. She exhaled slowly, scrolling through all of them; an awful lot of them included "ask Reyna."

_Bats and cobwebs hanging from the ceiling (ask Reyna) ... dark, candles are the only source of light (ask Reyna) ... skulls at food tables (ask Reyna) ... person outside in costume who scares people (ask Reyna) ..._

It's not that she was scared of Reyna. She really shouldn't have been, because they were best friends and Annabeth was older than her by a year, but Reyna could be rather frightening when you got on her bad side.

Okay, so maybe Annabeth was scared of her, but that was beside the point. Jason wasn't nearly as bad. He was pretty chill, pretty laid back, _especially_ compared to his girlfriend.

It was then that she got more inspiration for her essay, and she finished it before checking on her costume contest notes. It was pretty well organized, though she was rather nervous to share them with Reyna, who had no idea what she was planning.

She ended up done at about 5:00, so she grabbed her phone and her credit card and was out the door, driving away in her silver Prius.

There was practically nobody at Walmart. Naturally, Annabeth expected it. Nobody in their right mind should have been up that early. She found one adorable elderly couple strolling through the bedding section, fawning over unnaturally vibrant covers, and a young man looking through some laptops. He actually broke one of the samples, but Annabeth decided not to mention it.

"Boo."

Annabeth screamed, jumping and sending her cart straight into the salad shelf. Her phone dropped to the linoleum floor, protected by only a technicolor Mickey Mouse case. Breathing heavily, she turned, only to find her boyfriend standing there in blue plaid pajama pants and a large gray shirt, eyes wide.

"Percy, you idiot!" She shrieked. "You almost scared me to death! And -_ god_, Percy - I need that phone!"

"Sorry," Percy apologized sincerely, biting his lip. He bent down and picked up Annabeth's phone, turning it over in his hands and examining it for any scratches or cracks. "It seems okay, I don't see anything wrong with it ..."

"Thank you, sir," Annabeth replied sarcastically, snatching back her phone. She examined it herself before looking back at Percy, who looked completely sorry. Annabeth sighed and wrapped her arms around his tensed figure. "Hey, it's okay, you just scared me a bit."

Percy slackened."So ... I'm assuming you're here for groceries."

"Yep."

"Ah. Paul wanted me to buy some school supplies."

"This early in the morning?"

"Well, no, but I took the opportunity."

Annabeth nodded. Paul Blofis, Percy's stepfather, was a teacher at Goode. Both Annabeth and Percy actually had him in their sophomore year, and he was a pretty cool guy. Annabeth saw him pretty often, anyway, since she usually ate dinner with Percy and his family.

Annabeth pulled away slightly and pecked Percy on the lips, looking into his beautiful eyes. "Well, if you're buying school supplies and I'm buying an unnaturally large amount of lettuce, then we need to split up."

Percy pouted. "Awww, what's the fun in that? I've got time. Plus, don't you have that student gov meeting at 6?"

"... Jason told you?"

"You bet. I'm not in a rush, but you are, so I'm going to help you get that unnaturally large amount of lettuce."

Annabeth threw her head back and laughed. "Sure."

"Here! I heard the screaming over here!"

Both Annabeth and Percy turned. Annabeth saw the elderly couple she had seen earlier, the woman pointing at her. A Walmart employee stood behind them.

"Oh, no." Annabeth grinned nervously. "No, nothing's wrong. It's just, my boyfriend snuck up on me and I kind of screamed, so ... yeah, really, nothing's wrong, we're okay." Percy smiled sheepishly beside her.

"Oh." The old lady relaxed and smiled. "Aw, you two are just _adorable_! Reminds me of when Bobby and I were youngsters ..."

Annabeth looked at Percy, who seemed utterly confused, and giggled.

* * *

><p>Annabeth burst into F-5. "Gah! Sorry, I know I'm late, Percy and I ran into some trouble."<p>

"I bet you did." Jason wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Annabeth blanched. "Uh, that's not what I meant."

"You sure about that?"

Reyna cleared her throat. "Jason. Enough." She nodded at Annabeth, her lips forming a tight line. "Hello, Annabeth. Glad you could make it."

Annabeth took her bag off her shoulder and pulled a chair out, hanging her bag on the corner. She blew a loose strand of hair out of her face and sat down next to Gwen. "Glad I could too."

"Yeah, because I'm pretty sure you wanted to keep doing what you were doing with Percy." Jason was smirking evilly, leaning back in his chair. His blue eyes had a mischievous glint.

"Oh, shut up!"

She shut her eyes briefly and opened them to find something weird. Reyna was staring quizzically at Annabeth's chest, an eyebrow raised.

"Um ..." Annabeth started awkwardly. "Something you need, Reyna?"

Reyna simply looked up at her, clasping her hands together. "Your clothes are rather interesting."

Suddenly self-conscious, Annabeth looked down. It was then that she realized that she was still in her hoodie and her sweatpants and her Uggs, her glasses lopsided, many strands of hair having fallen out of her bun. She blushed slightly, looking up at Reyna. "Sorry. I guess I was in a rush, I forgot to change."

Reyna merely shrugged, unclasping her hands and clasping them again. "Anyway, we were just about to go onto decoration. Have you finalized your plans?"

"Er, well, I have some notes, and a few questions ..." Annabeth turned and grabbed her laptop out of her bag, opening it and typing in her password. She opened up her notes and scrolled through them, looking for the most recent ones, the ones that Reyna had yet to approve.

Annabeth turned the laptop toward Reyna and let her scroll through it. Annabeth bit her lip and tapped her fingers against the table anxiously, waiting for Reyna to say something.

"You seem tense," Reyna said without looking up.

"What?"

"Everybody can tell." Reyna looked up. "What's wrong?"

Annabeth exhaled. "I'm just a little nervous that, you know, you won't like my ... ideas ..."

Reyna's eyes widened. "Why would you be nervous? Annabeth, these ideas are absolutely brilliant. The dance is going to be amazing." She smiled at Annabeth, who relaxed. "Now, Jason, how's the food coming along?"

"Well-"

"Feet off the table, sweetheart."

Annabeth giggled and Jason, who was slowly removing his feet from the table, glared at her. "As I was saying, I talked to Sally-"

"Miss Jackson."

"She prefers Sally," Jason said dryly, arching an eyebrow at Reyna.

Reyna opened her mouth to say what seemed like a sassy comeback, but her voice caught in her throat. "Okay."

"Continuing on, _Sally_ kindly agreed to bake us some Halloween cookies."

"How is she supposed to bake enough for the entire school?" Reyna asked. "Jason, we have over 2,000 students here."

"She's Sally. She can do that."

"But I feel like that's too much-"

"She can do it."

Reyna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay. Continue."

"Sally is going to bake a boatload of Halloween cookies and she's going to be okay with it. I was thinking cake pops with edible legs and eyes. They look like spiders."

"Isn't that a little a childish?"

"Whatever. I'm doing it anyway. You know those 'pig in a blanket' thingys? We could wrap them so they look like mummies."

"I think that-"

"God, Reyna, shut up!"

"Excuse me?"

Jason stood up. "You're denying everything I say! _Everything_!"

"Well, I don't believe that they're-"

"We're co-presidents, Reyna! I'm not your slave, and you're not the boss of me! I'm sick and tired of you telling me what to do, telling me that this is wrong or that's stupid, all that crap!"

Reyna looked about ready to cry, and that was rare. She was Reyna Ramirez - crying was not something she did often. Her bottom lip trembled, and her eyes were teary and red. "Meeting adjourned."

"But it's early-" Gwen tried, but Reyna cut her off.

"No. Just go. Enjoy your free time." Reyna grabbed her bag and walked out of the room briskly, shutting the door behind her. The rest of student government followed, and soon it was just Jason and Annabeth.

"Jason, I really don't think that was necessary. I mean, I guess she was being a little-"

"Bye, Annabeth." He shouldered his bag and walked out. Annabeth quickly gathered up her things and sped out of the door. Jason was pretty far ahead, so she had to run to catch up with him.

"Thanks for leaving me."

"You're welcome."

"It's _sarcasm_, Jason."

"I know."

"What was that?" Annabeth demanded. "Why would you do that?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now, Annie."

"First of all, don't call me that. Second, I'm your best friend. You can tell me."

Jason sighed. "I don't know. It's just ... we're breaking apart. Too many fights. Too many times when she's telling me to do things. I can't stand her anymore."

"... what happened?"

"I don't think anything really happened. It was just ... a gradual thing. We just grew apart." He turned to the nearest locker and slammed his fist into it. "I loved her. Really, I did. It's just ..."

"I get it." Annabeth wrapped her arms around him, slowly. She leaned into his chest. "I do. It's okay."

* * *

><p>"Jason Grace and Annabeth Chase, please report to the office."<p>

Annabeth met Jason's eyes; he looked utterly confused. They'd forgotten the whole Reyna situation and just decided to enjoy the rest of the day. They both stood and walked out the room, slowly, when Annabeth got a text from Percy.

_**hey. there's a new student. i need to take a test, so paul wants you two to give her a tour. she's in the f-wing. love you**_

Annabeth replied quickly.

**okay. going now. love you xx**

"There's a new student," she said, looking up at Jason.

"Okay."

"Percy said she's in the F-Wing."

"Okay."

"_She_. It's a girl. What do you think she's like?"

Jason tilted his head slightly, sticking his hands into his pockets. "Well, looking at majority of the current generation, I'd say that she's a prissy prep type of girl, the one who walks with excessive hip movements and is always posting stupid selfies on Instagram and all that crap."

"So you're saying ... mini-Drew?"

"Pretty much."

"Seems legit."

Jason opened the door to the F-Wing hall, insisting that Annabeth walk in first - _"Ladies first"_ - and they stood together, honestly surprised to _not _see "a prissy prep type of girl, the one who walks with excessive hip movements and is always posting stupid selfies on Instagram and all that crap."

She was pretty, definitely, but in a different, more natural way. She wasn't wearing ten pounds of makeup - she wasn't wearing _any_ makeup - and judging by her clothes and the way her hair was cut, she didn't really care what she looked like.

Annabeth turned to Jason, whose eyes were wide. "Whoa ..."

"Whoa what?" The girl demanded.

"What?" Jason said. He blinked. "Gah, never mind. I'm Jason Grace." He stuck out his hand.

The girl shook it hesitantly, staring at him suspiciously. "Piper."

"You have a last name, Piper?" Annabeth asked, crossing her arms.

Piper smiled slightly. "I'll tell you when I feel like it. How about you?"

"Annabeth Chase." She nodded at Piper.

"All right." Piper clapped her hands together. "So, you two are supposed to be my tour guides. Shall we start the tour?"

Annabeth grinned. She liked this girl. "We shall."

* * *

><p><strong>if anybody got that unintentional panic! at the disco reference then i love you bye<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**HOLY COW I LOVE YOU GUYS. 16 FAVORITES AND 26 FOLLOWS WITH THE ****_FIRST CHAPTER_****? AHHHHHHHHHH YOU GUYS ARE SERIOUSLY FREAKING AMAZING.**

**A couple of replies to reviews:**

**Reyco4Life: You'll see some Leo in this chapter. :)**

**GreekGirl F (and Reyco4Life): Yay, middle school buddies! I'm in sixth grade. For a child that's barely eleven years old (yes, this story, along with all my other stories, was first created when I was 10 years old, no joke), my language is rather ... vulgar, I suppose.**

**And to everybody else, thank you _so _much for your positive reviews! YOU MAKE ME SO HAPPYYYYYY. I've always wanted to have one of those really popular fanfics!**

**Sorry I'm late, by the way. Hint of writer's block. This is Jason's POV, and I'm really excited to write the third chapter - Piper! (BTW, I'm making Goode more fancy-looking than it should be.)**

**Let's get started with the next chapter of ****_Operation Jasper_****!**

* * *

><p>Great. Another meeting.<p>

Jason did enjoy being co-student body president. It was fun, and the meetings were fun.

But, Reyna had been calling meetings a little excessively, and Jason was tired.

"Get out of bed, you idiot, before Reyna kills you."

Meet Thalia Grace.

Thalia was Jason's older sister. The only thing they really had in common was their eyes, both a blue color - though, Thalia's had more of an electrifying spark, while Jason's were calmer, like the sky. Aside from that, they were completely different. Thalia's hair was spiky, jet black, and Jason's was blonde and messy. Thalia had a visible splash of freckles across her nose, and Jason _didn't_.

Their eyes told a lot about their personality, too. Thalia was excitable, aggressive, and Jason was chill, calm, serious, though outwardly crazy and hilarious when he felt like it.

Jason groaned. "Five more minutes?"

"No," Thalia replied firmly. She stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame, dressed in her normal "Death to Barbie" tank top, distressed black jeans, and black sneakers, her jacket tied around her waist. Her black leather backpack was slung over her shoulder, covered in Green Day buttons. (She was 20 and she attended the local college.) Black bracelets adorned her right wrist, and she'd added on a Green Day guitar pick necklace. She was attractive in that rebellious, hardcore sort of way.

"Why not?" Jason complained.

"Because."

"That's not a valid answer." He drew out the last word, slurring the phrase.

"You sound drunk."

"Thank you," he said into his pillow.

Thalia rolled her eyes and walked over. She ripped the blanket away from Jason and completely pushed him off the bed, resulting in an annoyed "_oof_."

"What was that for?"

"For being stupid."

Jason snorted and pushed himself up. "Gee, thanks."

"Welcome, little bro." She ruffled his hair, adjusting her backpack strap. "Gotta go. Luke's waiting outside." She turned and walked out of Jason's room, turning down the hall.

"Don't do anything inappropriate!" Jason called after her.

Thalia promptly stuck her head back in and flipped him off.

Jason grinned slyly. "Love you too."

Thalia rolled her eyes and smiled, walking away. "Remember, Leo's coming over after school! Clean up a bit, you big dope. And, you might want to check the time. Not my fault you wouldn't wake up."

Jason arched an eyebrow and turned towards his alarm clock.

5:50.

"_Shit_!"

* * *

><p>"Why are <em>you <em>up so early?"

"Student gov meeting. You?"

"No reason, really." Leo grinned at Jason, who rolled his eyes in return. "So, I'm coming over later, right? I need to chill."

Jason sighed, adjusting the strap of his backpack. "Yeah." He continued walking until he found the door to F-5. "Gotta go. See you in bio."

"See ya, bro." Leo stuck his hands in his pockets and walked away, whistling. "Hey, word's been going around, I heard there's a new girl coming! Imma bet you ten dollars that she's hot!"

"Whatever!" Jason smiled and opened the door to F-5. Despite a broken toaster, a wardrobe malfunction, and a walk with Leo, he'd still managed to make it on time. Most of the people were there already - Reyna, of course. Gwen, Katie, Nyssa, Will, Larry, Hank, Dakota, all but Annabeth, which Jason thought was kind of unusual.

"Where's Annabeth?" Katie asked, voicing Jason's thoughts.

"Not sure," Reyna replied without looking up from the pile of papers on her desk. Even for someone like Reyna, Jason thought the pile was truly _gigantic_; it had to consist of over a thousand papers at least.

"Damn, Reyna, what's in that pile?"

Jason's eyes shot toward Dakota, who, just as Katie did, had just voiced his thoughts.

"What do you _think_?" Reyna said dully, still looking through the papers. "Notes, reviews, tutorials. The usual."

"The usual pile isn't bigger than you are," Gwen added, and several people muttered agreements.

"I'm doing what needs to be done, but if you all are so intent on me _not _doing my job, then so be it." Reyna scoots the pile over to the corner of the table and clasps her hands together, straightening her posture. She looks expectantly at Jason. "Well? Sit."

Jason grabbed onto his chair next to Reyna and pulled it out, sitting in it awkwardly. "So."

Reyna tapped the table. "So."

"Er ..." Jason rubbed the back of his neck. "What'd you eat for breakfast?"

Reyna cleared her throat. "I didn't have breakfast." Jason arched an eyebrow, and she sighed. "Not enough time."

"Not enough time?" Jason demanded. "What time did you wake up?"

"Somewhere around ... 2, perhaps?"

"_What_?"

"I had things to do."

"Reyna, you need to stop! You're working too much! You're not sleeping, you're not eating, really, a stupid Halloween party isn't as important as your health! I mean, seriously! You can't keep going on like this."

"It's nice to know that you care. I'll think about it."

Jason groaned and leaned back in his chair. The rest of student government stayed silent. Gwen's eyes darted between the fighting couple, her dark irises filled with worry. She was the matchmaker, after all. She'd made the two realize that their feelings were a little ... _stronger _than they thought. Unfortunately, those feelings had seemed to be fading recently, with all the fights and the arguments. Gwen had all the right to be concerned._  
><em>

It was that moment that Annabeth chose to burst into the room.

"Gah! Sorry, I know I'm late, Percy and I ran into some trouble."

Jason felt obligated to tease her. She was like his sister, after all, and teasing seemed to be common for most siblings. He grinned, wiggling his eyebrows. "I bet you did."

Annabeth paled, eyes widening. "Uh, that's not what I meant."

He raised his eyebrows. "You sure about that?"

"Jason. Enough." Jason's eyes darted toward Reyna, who took a split second to glare at him before nodding toward Annabeth.

* * *

><p>Truly, he <em>was<em> expecting a miniature Drew Tanaka.

She was in fact a girl, average height and lean, but her brown hair was choppily cut and messy. Her clothes were anything but designer. Skinny jeans that, from the look of them, were accidentally ripped, and a baggy blue t-shirt with an abstract design. She had beat up black Converse.

And yet, she was so _pretty_. Her tan face was clean, fresh, free of makeup or any imperfections, and her eyes were absolutely beautiful, changing color like a kaleidoscope, from brown to blue to green. Her nose was small and narrow, her eyelashes long and natural, her plump pink lips forming a straight line.

"Whoa."

"Whoa what?" The girl's voice was so soothing, so unbelievably nice.

"What?" Jason blinked. This girl ... "Gah, never mind. I'm Jason Grace." He stuck his hand out hesitantly, exhaling when she took it.

"Piper." She spoke her name slowly, eyeing him suspiciously as she shook his hand.

Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest, leaning on one leg. "You have a last name, _Piper_?"

A corner of Piper's mouth turned upward into a small smirk. "I'll tell you when I feel like it. How about you?"

"Annabeth Chase." Annabeth nodded her head slightly, sizing up Piper.

"All right." Piper clapped. "So, you two are supposed to be my tour guides. Shall we start the tour?"

Jason glanced at Annabeth, who smiled. "We shall." Annabeth turned to Jason, motioning for him to start, and he did so awkwardly. Opening the door, he let Piper go first - _"What a gentleman"_ - and then Annabeth, before going out himself.

"Whelp. What can I say about Goode High? It's a nice place. Good academic program, pretty cool electives, kind teachers, so on and so forth. The students, however ... well, they're-"

"Dicks," Annabeth supplied.

Jason smiled, and Piper laughed. (Jason couldn't help but admire her laugh - he thought it was beautiful.) "Yeah, let's go with that. This here, you're walking down the F-Wing. Completely average classes. Not ... you know, above average, or ... below average ..."

Piper giggled. "Okay."

They continued down the hall, with Jason pointing out each and every classroom, every teacher, every con and every pro. Unlike most students, Piper seemed to actually be paying attention - or trying to pay attention, at least, it seemed like she was having some trouble with it.

They made their way to the end of the F-Wing, to the glass door that'd lead them to Jason's favorite part of the whole school. He pushed open the door, walking out first and not caring about manners.

"Welcome to the Plaza."

Piper's eyes widened, and she spun around slowly, looking for a better view. Thin, perfectly mowed grass and cement walkways. Christmas-style lights adorned the tall trees, and there were small fountains here and there. In the middle of it all was a huge, modernized building with several stories, surrounded by many little tables and benches.

Jason pointed toward the building. "That over there? There's a bunch of stuff in there. There's the main cafeteria, and the office. A Starbucks, too, and a snack bar. Heck, there's a freaking gift shop."

Piper turned toward Jason, her green eyes pleading. (Jason could have sworn they were blue a moment ago.) "Can we go inside? _Please_?"_  
><em>

Jason looked at Annabeth, who was marveling at the architecture of the building. It got her every time. Jason turned back to Piper, smiling at her. "I was waiting for this part of the tour. Let's go."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, guys! What's up?**

**Sorry I haven't been writing lately, I got back from my vacation around January and then, of course, school started. I've been a little busy. I'll see if I can get up an updating schedule, maybe every Wednesday until further notice, since Wednesday is early release for me and I have more time to write. That schedule goes for all of my chapter stories: this one, ****_Taught to Never Give_****_ Up_, ****and ****_Those Kaleidoscope Eyes. _****To those of you who know ****_Skyscraper_****, that could be a while until it's updated. Possibly forever. :D**

**I'm a little out of it, since I haven't really written anything lately aside from _Ten Things_, so I apologize if this chapter is sucky.**

* * *

><p><em>Now go stand in the corner and think about what you did. Ha! Time for a little revenge. The story starts when it was hot and it was summer—<em>

Piper let out a loud groan as she reached over to grab her phone. 6:00.

She lay in her bed for a while, staring at the blank white ceiling of the condo her father had rented for her and his assistant, Jane.

_Her father_.

Tristan McLean, the oh-so-famous movie star, had left Piper with Jane in New York, so she could attend Goode High School. Piper wasn't so excited about it—then again, she wasn't really excited about any schools—but he'd insisted.

"Come on, Pipes!" She frowned at the nickname. "Listen, I've got great reviews about this school. The teachers are great, the academics, I'm sure you'll do better here. You've already been enrolled—"

Piper frowned even further. "_Really_? You could have at least asked me first."

He held up his hands in defense. "I'm sorry, but it's the best thing to do. Hey, I've even talked to one of the teachers, he set up a tour for you. I promise you'll fit in this time."

"I don't want to."

"_Piper_. You have to go to school."

Piper opened her mouth, about to reply. She could have been homeschooled, but then she remembered that it was only her father and Jane. Mr. McLean was always out, shooting some overly dramatic movie, and Jane was ... safe to say, Piper hated Jane.

She only agreed because her father made a deal with her—she attended Goode, and he would take off an entire year of any filming, interviews, anything, so that he could spend more time with her. Piper made him do everything—pinky promise, Spock swear, "cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die," even one of the handshakes Piper had made when she was younger—before she finally said yes. She made sure that he knew that if he didn't keep his promise, she was completely and utterly _done_.

So there she was, in her unnaturally large room, on her first day at Goode. There was one part of her mind, telling her to just fall asleep and skip school for the day. (Or maybe, the rest of the year.) But she couldn't, because she wanted that year with her dad more than anything.

"Piper!" Jane yelled. "Get up!"

"Working on it," Piper grumbled, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She stretched leisurely, yawning as she checked herself out in the mirror. Her brown hair stuck up in different directions, and she had dark circles under her color-changing eyes, which were set in a dull blue color. She grinned crookedly, giving herself a thumbs-up. _Perfect_.

"_Piper_—"

"I heard you!" Piper screamed, opening the door. Jane stood there in her usual business suit, an iPad tucked under her arm, her dirty blonde hair swirled into a tight bun. She narrowed her dark eyes, taking in Piper.

"You look hideous," she said simply.

Piper snorted, but she didn't take offense to it. "Gee, thanks."

"Don't you sass me—"

"Yeah, yeah." Piper pushed her way past Jane.

"I will not—"

"_Don't you sass me, young lady. I will not hesitate to call your father_," Piper said in a scarily good impression of her father's assistant. "I've heard that a million too many times. Saying it over and over again isn't going to help."

Jane didn't say anything.

"I just woke up. Of course I look like I just got mauled by a bear." Piper sighed. "Give me a few minutes, I'll try to look ... somewhat presentable." She turned just before stepping into the bathroom, looking at Jane. Her expression was unreadable, but she just nodded curtly and briskly walked back down the hall.

Piper closed the door and looked in the mirror, examining the bird's nest on top of her head. She exhaled. "This will take a while."

* * *

><p>Piper ended up putting little-to-no effort into fixing her hair. Because she was too lazy or it was too messy, she could never be sure. But she severely regretted not putting more time into her appearance when she met her tour guides.<p>

She didn't care so much about the girl. (_Annabeth_, she said her name was.) She might have, if she was one of those popular girls who ruled the school. She was tall and athletic and rather pretty, with golden curls that tumbled down her shoulders, but her eyes were dark gray—cold, hard, and calculating, as if she were planning how to kill Piper, but also faraway, as if she had thought of several ways to murder her and didn't know which one was the best. She was pretty nice, though, and Piper figured that she'd only end up in a coffin if she seriously pissed her off.

But the boy ...

Piper had to admit it. He was _hot_.

Jason Grace could have passed off as Annabeth's younger brother, with the deep tan and the blonde hair. He was most certainly taller than Annabeth, with the same athletic and muscular build. But his eyes were different. They weren't _distracted_, like Annabeth's, but _distracting. _They were bright blue, like the sky, with a childish kind of light to them. Piper didn't have a crush on him (he was bound to have a girlfriend, anyway), but maybe she had a crush on his eyes. She found herself staring at them during majority of her tour, though she tried hard to pay attention when she could.

The tour ended around lunch, so they all walked back to the Plaza together.

"We'll introduce you to our friends," Annabeth said, opening the door to the main building. (They said there wasn't a name for it yet, but Jason, being co-student body president, was working on it.) "They're really cool, all of them."

"I think they'll like you." Jason grinned at Piper, and she felt the heat rise up to her cheeks. She decided not to say anything.

As it turned out, their group of friends was actually pretty cool. Piper remembered a few names, like Annabeth's boyfriend Percy Jackson, a witty black-haired, green-eyed beauty, and Hazel Levesque, the adorable African American freshman with these gorgeous golden eyes.

Leo Valdez, however, stood out in particular. He was short and scrawny, with messy dark curls and ridiculously excited brown eyes. He vaguely reminded Piper of a Latino Santa's elf. He was playing with something—a helicopter—when Piper walked over. With a start, she realized that _he'd _made the helicopter himself, out of pipe cleaners and spare cardboard. She was even more surprised when he let go of it and it actually flew across the cafeteria, landing in some poor girl's spaghetti.

He clicked his tongue when he first saw Piper, giving her a lopsided grin. "_Hola, _Beauty Queen. How about I take you out to dinner this Friday?"

Piper blushed. "Um—"

"Leo, lay off," Jason said, but his alluring eyes had an amused glint. "She's new. I'm _pretty _sure going on a date is the last thing on her mind right now."

"Whatever." Leo brushed it off with a wave of his skinny hand. "Speaking of which, you owe me ten dollars. I _told _you she would be hot."

She had to look like a tomato at that point.

"Okay, maybe you're right. She's pretty. _Really _pretty."

"Hot," Leo supplied with a smirk, tapping his foot.

Jason shrugged. "Sure, yeah, that works. She's hot."

Piper wanted to hide under a table.

"Jason, you have a girlfriend," Hazel interrupted, but she was smiling. _Called it_.

Jason ignored her.

"But that _doesn't _mean you can just ask her out."

Leo glared at Jason for a bit. "I won't ask her out if you give me those ten dollars."

Jason's expression was priceless, but being the freakishly generous guy he was, he dug into his pocket and pulled out a ten dollar bill, handing it over to Leo. "Fine. Take your money."

Leo grinned, and he held out his hand to Piper. "Let's try this again. Leo Valdez, pleased to meet you."

Piper smiled, taking his hand and shaking it firmly. "Piper."

He raised an eyebrow. "Last name?"

"She'll tell you when she feels like it," Annabeth said, recalling when they first met. Piper looked at her, and they started to laugh. And even if the rest of the group didn't know what they were talking about, they all started laughing.

Maybe her father was right. Maybe this school was better for her.


End file.
